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Mythic Legions (Advent of Decay): Skeleton Soldier by The Four Horsemen

Welcome back to another Mythic Legions Wednesday! I know, there’s not much alliteration going on there, but Monday was already taken. Today I’m opening another figure that I recently double-dipped on when StoreHorsemen had their remaining stock sale. I do try to avoid the troop building bug when it comes to this line, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. And the Skeleton Soldier is a fine example of why! No packaged shot this time, and the Skeleton Soldier doesn’t actually have a bio card on the bubble insert, because she’s just a lowly undead grunt, so let’s jump right in and check her out!

We’ve had plenty of skeletons in the previous Mythic Legions series, but in keeping with a running theme of Advent of Decay, this is our first Femme-Skeleton, and what a beauty she is! And yes, you can tell she’s a she because of the use of the more diminutive armor. As always, the bones look great, this time with a yellow finish that makes them look as though they’ve been lying around in a crypt just waiting to be re-animated. This figure also exhibits one of my absolute favorite things T4H does with this line, and that’s the way they use sculpt and paint to reproduce the look of old armor. The skeleton features the crude and jagged armor style we’ve seen in the past, mostly with the Orcs, including plates on the lower legs, the outside of the upper arms, sleeves on the lower arms, and optional shoulder guards. She also has some plates dropping down between her legs to protect her bony nether regions. The torso armor is more refined and intricate than the rest, but the antiqued finish, which shows pitting in the sculpt and some brilliant paint that reflects both wear and tear as well as rust, makes it fit right in with the rest.

The head sculpt features a classic looking skull framed by an open-faced helmet with horns protruding from the sides. As with the rest of the armor, the helmet features painted wear and a spotted patina of rust. The paint job on the horns is also especially convincing, and the horns themselves give her a distinctive look over all the other Skellies this line has produced. The horns are also removable, so you can leave them off if you like, or replace them with pieces from another figure’s helmet. And speaking of options, you have two when it comes to the back helmet attachment. One is a cascade of blonde plume (or maybe hair?) pouring out the back and the other is a single spike. I definitely prefer the spike, but when I finally have two of these in my collection, I’ll likely display one with each. Before we move on to the weapons, you also have two options when it comes to the torso…

Yup, Skeleton Soldier comes with a completely different armored torso. If you don’t want to go with the more ornate one, the second option is a little more reserved in its design. It does still have the same wonderfully weathered finish to it, including all sorts of abrasions and rust spots. I’ll also note here that while it does have the holes on the back for the shoulder armor, I simply could not get them to go in all the way. I’m sure a little heat would do the trick, but to be honest, I think the figure looks pretty damn great without them too. OK, now let’s move on to the weapons…

Skellie Soldier’s main accessories are a sword and shield. The sword is a standard cruciform-hilted broadsword with a gray hilt and a silver painted blade. There’s some rust painted on the hilt and base of the blade, which looks pretty good. And of course you get the standard brown sword belt, which in this case hangs very loosely around the figure’s waist. It doesn’t take much for it to drop down to her legs, which I actually dig a lot because it suggests the belt was something this warrior wore in life and it’s too loose now because she’s lost all of her meat. It can also double as a shoulder strap.

The shield is a brand new one to me, at least I think it is. It’s a simple disc-shaped design with concentric circles and some rivets sculpted around the second circle. You get the now standard hand grip that pegs into the back, and I’ll continue to go on record and say that I prefer the clips from the previous series. The shield is painted silver and features a light patina of rust to make it match the sword, and I think they look great together.

And since it’s been a whole week since we’ve seen the spear… here’s the standard Mythic Legions spear! Again! T4H just love to throw this pig-sticker in with a lot of the figures, and I’m never going to complain about it. In this case, the spear is painted entirely in silver, to match the sword and shield, and given that light touch of rust to make it look well used.

The Skeletons have always been a high point in this line for me, and this new Skeleton Soldier does nothing to buck that trend. She looks great beside the Skeleton Legion Builder from the original Kickstarter, and she’ll look even better when I’ve got two pairs of each. No, she isn’t exactly burdened with a huge list of accessories, but it’s hard to argue about extras when you get an entire second torso to customize her. And customization is indeed the name of the game here, as you could probably pick up a four or five of these and manage to kit them each out a little differently to build small army. Oh, if only I had all the money and display space to do something like that!